James Wen is a software engineer with a decade of experience building mobile-first experiences and robust backend systems, currently contributing to Facebook’s engineering efforts in New York. He combines deep Apple-centric mobile expertise (iOS/macOS) with strong C++ backend skills, evidenced by contributions to high-profile open-source projects like fbthrift, folly and HHVM. James has a track record of improving build systems, memory-efficient serialization, and integrating compression codecs and streaming protocols—practical work that strengthens runtime stability and deployability at scale. A former startup co-founder and accelerator alum, he blends product-minded mobile design with systems-level engineering, making him effective across both client and server domains.
10 years of coding experience
6 years of employment as a software developer
Accelerator, Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies, Accelerator, Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies at Launchpad LA (Class 5)
Bachelor, Sci Applied Physics, Bachelor, Sci Applied Physics at University of Science and Technology Beijing
Master of Science (M.Sc.), Computer Science, Master of Science (M.Sc.), Computer Science at McGill University
Facebook's branch of Apache Thrift, including a new C++ server.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Contributions:174 commits, 1 PR in 5 years 5 months
Contributions summary:James primarily worked on the back-end of the Facebook Thrift project. Their contributions focused on improving the codebase, specifically cleaning up and refactoring build configurations. They added support for getters and setters to existing Thrift code, improving user usability. Additionally, the user optimized the memory allocation in serialization processes. They also implemented tests to fix compilation errors, indicating a focus on code quality and build processes.
An open-source C++ library developed and used at Facebook.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Contributions:24 commits, 1 PR, 2 comments in 7 years 3 months
Contributions summary:James primarily focused on enhancing the `folly` library, a C++ library developed and used at Facebook, by integrating support for ZSTD compression. Their contributions involved adding ZSTD compression and decompression codecs within the `folly/io/Compression.h` and `folly/io/Compression.cpp` files. Furthermore, the user added necessary tests in `folly/io/test/CompressionTest.cpp` for the newly implemented features. They also contributed to FiberManager, adding allocation/deallocation benchmarks and periodic reclaiming of fibers.
facebookcppc-library
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